tbh I'd argue they are conditioned to regard empathy and compassion in general as weakness - and that the apparent empathy towards their circle is not empathy at all, but a set of rule-based obligations that they fulfill from duty, not desire.
this is how we get those statements out of them that 'empathy is bad' - they partition their behavior towards their close connections not as empathetic, but as obligatory.
which is also where all the child abuse comes from - they can, e.g., hit a child "for their own good" even tho they know it hurts the kid. the ostensible 'rules' of their society supersede any sense of care or compassion that might otherwise "get in the way" of what they "need to do" in order for "society to keep functioning"
David Roberts
Fi 🏳️⚧️